To Love a Thief
by Random Kitty
Summary: Jill moves off on her own after her mom decided to go back to school. Jill is new in Forget-Me-Not-Valley. What will she do when a thief comes and tries to steal her heart away? JillxSkye
1. Moving In

**Update (3/27/13):** I will be rewriting much of what I have now, but it will still follow the same storyline. I'll try to not change much, but I am wanting to change the tense to past (yet again..). Also I'll be doing some general rewording of things because I feel my writing has improved since this was originally written.  
My story is set in Forget-Me-Not Valley. I have actually never played Harvest Moon DS Cute, but from what I read about Skye, I instantly fell in love with him... so... decided to write a story about him and Jill. My first game in the Valley was HM:AnWL so I will be picturing that one in my head instead of the HMDS version. I do have the non-cute version and just like the graphics for the GC better than the DS. So my story will be a cross between the games. Like, I call on the phone to Mineral Town to order stuff, but I still have the shipping house thing on the GC version and Takakura takes the shipped stuff to town. And I'm also imagining both the cave and the dig site at Carter and Flora's place.

Chapter One: Moving In

_It really was beautiful in Mineral Town, and I was disappointed that I couldn't stay in the quaint town any longer than I was able to; I came from a city fairly far away. I had bought a home in Forget-Me-Not Valley a couple weeks beforehand, and was still on my way to get there. My best friend Claire lived in Mineral Town, so I figured I might as well stop by and see her on my way. But a "stop by" turned into a week. I guess she had actually helped me get me ready for farm life by giving me experience with animals and crops and such. I'd always been a hard worker and an active person, but I hated to say that I'd never actually worked on a farm until that week. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to become a full time farmer... but it was about too late to turn back. The property I had bought had apparently been abandoned for quite some time. The whole Valley knew that I was on my way, and they were all excited to have a new person to come and live with them._

_Even though I'd never been a farmer or rancher before, I'd always wanted to try it.. so this was my chance!_

I sat on Claire's extra bed – my bed for the past week – and stared at the floor, waiting on Claire to finish her chore, whatever that was (I wasn't even listening when she told me). My mind had been elsewhere for the past couple of days, thinking about the Valley and wondering if it was as nice as Mineral Town. Well, today was the day that I'd be embarking on the last leg of my trip, so I had better go ahead and pack my bags.

It took me only about ten minutes to get everything crammed into my two suitcases. I had nothing left to do before I had to leave, so I began to play with Claire's dog, Sparky, until she got back. Soon enough, she burst through the door with two large grocery bags in her arms. I quickly ran over to her and took one of them off her hands.

Claire gave a huge sigh of relief, "Thank you, Jill. I would have been back sooner, but it took me so long to carry these things."

"So... what is all that?" I asked.

"Well... some groceries for me, and I got some things to start you off as well." She started going through the bags and pulled out several seeds. "I got you some turnip seeds to start out with. And you can't go without having any tools, so I got you some."

"Claire... you didn't have to do that. I can get some on my own."

"I know that; I didn't get you many, just the ones you'd need to get started." She pulled out a hammer, hoe, watering can, and an axe and handed them all to me. "There you go. Are you ready to head on out, Jill?"

I sighed and looked at my bags on the floor. "Yep. I guess so." I didn't want to leave Claire, but I was getting kind of anxious to start my new life in a new place.

"Here's a rucksack to carry your tools and seeds in. It's an old one that I don't need anymore so you can keep it."

"Well thanks!" I answered with a grin on my face as I struggled the bag on my back. That was definitely one thing I would have to get used to. "Let's go!"

We left Mineral Town and were almost to Forget-Me-Not Valley when I heard a strange noise come from one of the trees. Just some animal or something, I figured. I quickly forgot about it once I first set my eyes on the valley. It was so stunningly beautiful. It was a big change from the city – a big and _pleasant_ change.

When looking for my house, I happened to remember that whoever I got the house from mailed me a piece of paper that tried to explain how to find the house. Once I got it out, I was still very confused by it. Nothing looked familiar and the person's handwriting was barely even legible. Claire picked up on my confusion and took the piece of paper from me.

"Uhh..." she paused. "You're sure that you bought a house in the VALLEY, right?"

"..yeah... why?"

"Well... this is a poorly drawn map of Sunshine Islands, I think." I remained quiet, beginning to doubt myself. "No, this is it." Claire says, "You said it was an abandoned farm, right? Well I know for a fact this place has one exactly like what you described. Lucky for you, I come here enough to know where that is."

My eyes lit up. Oh good... It would have been just my luck to buy the completely wrong house. Truth is, I wouldn't even know my house if I were to see it. You may think it was crazy to buy a house without even seeing a picture of it, and I admit, it is. But that was one of the only houses I could afford. What made this one be the deciding factor was that it had a farm along with it, even if it was abandoned.

Claire found her way to the farm and walked me in. It was... not quite what I was expecting after seeing her huge farm, but I still liked it. It was cute. It had a small house, a tool shed, and another little building I wasn't quite sure what was yet. The field in the middle was randomly empty. That didn't matter, I would very likely fill up that space later on anyways. But the soil in the vacant space was unlike Claire's – it was so hard and compacted that it didn't seem suitable for growing anything other than grass. Once I began looking around, however, I did spot a couple of small patches of soil that looked capable of growing crops. And... was that... another house?Was somebody else supposed to live here on the farm with me? I stopped in front the first house we saw (the one close to the main entrance) and turned towards Claire, pointing at the house. Before I could speak, she was already halfway through the door of the second house. Once she was in, she dropped one of my bags.

"Jill! It's so cute! I love it!"

How did she know this one was mine? I know she came here some, so did that mean she knew who the other house belonged to? I walked in and found a bed, dresser-like thing, bookshelf, clock, very small TV set, and a couch. I didn't know that the house came with stuff already in it. Another plus for me! Claire quickly inspected the little cabin, making sure everything was in good condition, not that I couldn't have done that myself. She was just looking out for me, and that was simply the Claire I knew.

"Jill, if you ever have any problems, let me know and I'll be over here in a heartbeat. Hmm.. but you don't have a phone yet.. Van sells phones, though! That's how I got mine. Van, remember that traveling salesman that I took you too in the Inn one day? He comes here, too, so be sure to visit him when he stops by. Even if you call or not, I'll be sure to stop by occasionally!" She paused before continuing, "But I do have to get back to Mineral Town now. I have a date tonight with the Doctor," she finished with a cheesy smile. "Well, bye and good luck!" After a swift hug, she was gone.

I sat there on my bed, letting it sink in that I really was out on my own from that point onward. Would I be able to do it? Could I really run a successful farm? Did I have enough strength to do all of this.. by myself? ….What was all of this pessimism running through my mind? Of course I'd be able to succeed! Sure it may not be easy, but definitely do-able. Plus, nobody said I would be by myself. I have Claire here for me in case I need help. And my mom, too! Whenever they come over to visit, however... where on earth would they sleep? The only bed here was mine... I then realized that I didn't even have a _kitchen_ or a _bathroom._ Oh geez, pretty rough living, I see... well. First and foremost, I needed to save up money for getting house extensions and upgrades. The first small step in that direction would be to plant the seeds that Claire gave me, but I needn't get ahead of myself. First I needed to unpack my things and get settled in; and that I did.

I unpacked my things very slowly. I took each article of clothing out of my bags one by one and laid them neatly in a dresser drawer. Next things to come out were a couple of pictures in frames, and I proceeded to set them on top of the dresser. One of the two was a picture of me when I was a baby being held by my mother and father. My dad had died shortly after I was born so.. I never really got to know him. My mother was still living though, and that made me very happy. I loved my mother, and I didn't know what I'd ever do if she died. The second picture I pulled out was a very recent picture of my mother. It made me sad thinking about how we had to be separated. She had decided to go back to school, and she was going to live on campus. It was pretty far from where we lived and would cost more to drive to and from daily. She sold our house and gave me some money towards buying my own. We made a deal that she would come and stay on any breaks from school that she had. A smile covered my face as I thought about my mother.

When I was finished putting everything away I looked at the clock – surprised to see that was already 8, which is weird because I only had two bags to unpack. Oh well. I had just noticed that beside the bookshelf hung a calendar. Strangely, it was up-to-date. Maybe that was my house-warming gift or something? It was Spring... day 4. I would be 18 near the end of the month. The 21st to be exact.

I rested on my bed for a while, staring at the ceiling. I loved how quiet it was; it was _never_ like this in the city. Before I knew it, I had fallen peacefully asleep.

* * *

**A/N**, now that the chapter is redone, I hope it sounds a little better. Please review if you like it and let me know what you think :D

Please note that this is the only chapter I have updated thus far, and the others will be back in present tense (and probably not written as well). Just a fair warning ^_^


	2. Weird Place

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. I sit up slowly, rubbing my eyes. Once up, I stretch and yawn – getting ready for a day that I just know will be a good one. I must not be fully awake yet because the first two steps I make, I trip over my rucksack, stubbing my toe on the blunt end of the axe. _Whew... at least I didn't get the sharp end. But that still really hurt,_ I think to myself and I stoop over and rub my big toe. I never noticed before how heavy these tools are... why did I not notice this yesterday when I carried them on my back during the hike over here? I guess I had more strength yesterday or was excited to get over here or something. But now that I'm here... it doesn't seem as grand as I thought. I shake my head. _I have got to get these thoughts out of my head. I like the farm, I really do. I guess I just feel kind of lonely.. I've always been around somebody._ I lift my head. _Yeah! All I have to do is go and meet people and I'm sure I'll be fine!_ In my little moment of glory, I pick up my rucksack, struggling to lift it and work it on my back, and head for the door. I fling the door open wide and stand there with my hands resting on my hips. Taking in a deep breath, I step triumphantly out the doorway. To my complete and utter surprise, there stands a man, right beside me. My reaction being a very quick jump away and making a very strange noise that even I didn't know I could make. The man had darker skin and short dark hair. He is kind of old, but it seems like he still gets around pretty well. I know he means no harm, but he should really know from now on not to startle me. I try to start a conversation because he had an odd look on his face, as if he had no idea what to do now.

"Hi, I'm Jill. I just moved in the farm right here." I try to give him a cheery smile, still shaken up about the incident.

"I'm Takakura." he replied, holding out a hand for me to shake.

He's an old man like I have never seen before. He wears a tank top and he has a couple tattoos on his upper arm. He still has quite a bit of muscle too. _I wonder if he runs a ranch around here too!_

"Hey, it's very nice to meet you. Do you live around here?" I avoided saying his name, because I knew I would not get it right. I'd have to hear it a few more times before I get it right.

"Yes I do live around here. Very close actually. You see, I live at that house right there." he replies as he points to the house I was about to inquire Claire about the day before. _Oh! So HE'S the one who lives there!_ Wow, two surprises for me in one morning. Lucky me.

"Oh cool, I was actually wondering who lived there, if anybody... but now I know." I smile at him.

"Well, I guess I'll let you go on your way. I was just coming over here to introduce myself, but I must have scared the living daylights out of you. I'm sorry." With that he begins to walk away. That whole time, his face didn't show any emotion whatsoever, but his words sounded sincere. His voice was kind of husky so it was a little hard to understand a few words he said.

I start to go towards town again, after I saw that Takakura went back inside his house. I pass by it, admiring the way it is built. ...why is it different than the tool shed and.. the other building? My house is built the same way as his but not the other two. Oh yeah, the other building, I might as well go and see what's inside it. I open the door and peer inside carefully, not even sure this building belongs to me. It looks farm-ish so it must be mine. I walk the rest of the way in and am not exactly sure what I'm looking at. There is a basket and a cooler thing. I open them and they're both empty.

"What's this for?" I ask myself. "There's nothing here! What good is this? I could store stuff in it at least..." I begin to realize how lonely I am starting to get if I talk to myself.

I leave the tiny building and exit the farm, wondering where to start. I decide to go across the bridge that we came on the way over here. I hear bickering, but don't really want to get involved in it. If I do, they'd make me pick sides and that would not be a very good start to getting people to like me here, so I just continue walking. They were two girls' voices. Their voices get louder and louder until I hear one scream some nonsense phrase, and then the voices stopped. I finally look to the left – where the voices were coming from – and see a girl with long wavy pale blond hair holding a broomstick. The girl seems panicked and rushes over to me.

"Umm.. hey.. person. Have you seen a girl with really long green hair pass through here, by chance?" _Broomsticks? Green hair? What kind of town have I moved into?_

"No... I haven't.." I replied to her, giving her a weird look, I'm sure.

"Oh.. okay." She starts to fly away on her little broomstick thing. I want to seem nice to the people here, and that means everybody, so I try to help.

"Hey, wait! Can I help you look for her?"

She turns around quickly "Oh that would be great! You see..." She looks down "I think I might have... possibly.... maybe sent her off to another dimension."

I stand there with my mouth gaping open.

"...not only her, but also her little people, too. All like, hundred of them. ...and it would be very much appreciated if you would help me find them."

"How do I do that?" I asked.

"Well... you kinda have to find them by doing different things... and once you have some, you can get the Harvest Goddess back."

These little people don't sound important, but a Harvest Goddess? She does... I could try to save her I guess. I wouldn't have to find too many of these people, right?

"How many do I need to find, exactly, to get the Harvest Goddess back?"

"..sixty." She looks away.

"Sixty!?" Okay. Don't freak out. I can do this.

"So... will you help?" She asked with a little helplessness in her voice.

I nod. "Yeah. I'll try." _What have I just gotten myself into?_

"The thing is... this has actually happened before. The farmer who owned the ranch before you was also put into your situation. I think that's why he left."

Well this news sure is comforting. Why didn't Takakura say anything about this? "R-really? Well, I'm not going to give up. I will save her." I smile "By the way, who are you?"

"Me? Why, I am none other than the Witch Princess." She gives a cunning smile as she mysteriously vanishes into thin air. I plop on the ground as I try to discern whether all this is real or not. When I hit the ground, I hear a tiny yelp. _Did I just sit on a dog?_ I look behind me to find... I don't really know what. He kind of looked like a little wizard, cape and all. Hey, could this be one of those little people that the Witch Princess was talking about?

"Oh I'm sorry! Did I sit on you?" I don't know why I'm talking to it, I'm not even sure if it can talk.

"Oh yes, I'm fine." He answered, his hands scanning the ground for something. "Could you help me find my glasses? I seem to have lost them." I look over next to my foot and see miniature glasses, with lenses about the size of bottlecaps. They have a strange swirly design on them, however. I pick them up and hand them to this very small person. He squints and stretches out his tiny little arms as far as they can go to retrieve them. I, honestly, don't know how he can see through those things, but whatever works for him. He stands up and dusts himself off. "Honestly, that Witch Princess, did she really have to go and send us off again? All of us haven't even made it back yet from last time! I swear, one day..."

I get quite amused at hearing this little person go on, but I decide to interrupt him, "So, you must be one of the little people that got sent to another dimension!"

He chuckles, having gotten used to being called all sorts of names, "We are called Harvest Sprites, and yes I am indeed one of those 'little people' you are referring to."

"Oh, I'm sorry, the Witch Princess just called you that so... that's just what I thought you were called."

He laughs. "It's okay, I am just very grateful to you for having found me. Tell you what. When you find more of us Harvest Sprites, we'll appear at the big tree over there." He points down a path, and I just nod, acting like I know what's down there. "You can stop by anytime, and we'll help you with your farm work if you'd like."

"Thank you very much!"

"Well, I guess I'll be going now." He started to poof away but stopped. "Oh I'm Guts. It's been nice meeting you, Jill." He starts to fade again and stops again. "Oh one last thing, you're the only one who can see us Harvest Sprites, so the job of saving the Harvest Goddess lies completely on your shoulders." He smiles. "No pressure or anything." He disappears this time for good. _How did he know my name? I don't remember ever telling HIM my name..._

Down the path I see a strange tent, so I walk towards it. It sits in front of a cliff and next to a river with a beautiful waterfall descending down the cliff. On the side of the wall I see an entrance to something that looks like a cave. And in front of it I see a tarp thing with stairs that go down. There is digging equipment outside so I'm guessing that's some kind of dig site. Well this place looks cool. Wonder who lives here. My question is immediately answered by two people exiting the tent. One of them is a girl with wavy blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She wears glasses and is covered in dirt. The other is a somewhat large man with black hair and quite a bit of facial hair. He also has glasses, but his are very small. He goes as far as the digging equipment before he sees me, and he stabs his shovel in the ground and rests an arm on the handle. "Hey! You must be the new farmer we've all been hearing about"

_Wow, am I really that popular?_ "Y-yes I am. I'm Jill." I almost held out my hand to shake his, but I kept it back for fear of what all would be on his hands because he, too, had dirt all over him.

"I'm Carter. It's nice to meet you!" He holds out his hand anyways. I shake his hands and he has a very firm handshake. Now normally I like firm handshakes but this time I'd rather it wasn't so I wouldn't get the dirt ground in my hand. The girl heads towards the dig site. I know she saw me, but she must not be fond of new people, I'm guessing.

"Flora! Come here and introduce yourself to Jill! She's the new farmer!" Carter yells towards the girl. She comes over and introduces herself.

"Hi.. I'm Flora~" She has a very soft voice. It wasn't what I was expecting for this tough-looking girl.

"Hey, I'm Jill." I give her a smile. I'm just glad to find that that Takak.-whatever-his-name-is isn't the only normal person here. Flora starts to walk to the dig site again and Carter, trying to find something to say, looks at me.

"I think Flora wants to show you to the dig site!" He said, louder than he should seeing as I'm standing right next to him. He probably just wanted to get Flora's attention. She stops dead in her tracks and turns around slowly, looking like she doesn't want to do this, but does anyways.

"Umm.. sure..." She waits for me to get right behind her then she continues down the stairs. The inside is quite a bit cooler than the outside. She immediately walks over towards a wall, stoops down, and begins to dig. The inside is bigger than what I was expecting and there are a few scattered lanterns to light up the site. Not knowing what to do, seeing as I don't have a shovel, I just awkwardly stand in the middle of the dig spots.

"So.... do you come down here a lot" I ask, trying to spark a conversation.

"Yeah, either here or the cave." She answers abruptly and as if she doesn't even care. Finally she turns around, "Okay sorry if I seem to be rude, but I'm just kind of in a rush to get some things dug and sold. This is our income and we haven't been digging or mining for a few days and we desperately need this, so.. I guess I'm a bit stressed is all." She smiles. "I'm not normally this bad, I promise. And Carter normally helps me, but I don't know what he's doing right now. He needs to get his butt down here and help if he wants to keep getting meals from me every day. ...ugh, could you please go up and see what he is doing?"

"Sure" I answer, leaving to go up the stairs. My mouth drops and my head tilts to the side, not expecting to see what he's doing. Automatically turn and go back down the stairs. Flora turns around and asks, "So? What was he doing?"

"..I'm really not sure. He was standing by the river near the waterfall with his eyes closed and his arms up in the air. Was he meditating or something?" I start to think out loud.

She sighs. "Yeah.. he does that. I don't even know why. Well could you tell him to get down here and help?"

"Umm... I don't really want to disturb anything..."

"Okay, I'll do it." She walks to the base of the steps. "CARTER! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT DOWN HERE!" She yells and the lanterns shake.

We hear a faint yell back. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Soon, he enters the site too. "Do you want to help, Jill? You'll get to keep whatever you find?" Flora gives him an aggravated look.

"Sure?" I take the small hand shovel that he hands me.

A few hours later, I am satisfied with what all I found. I found some coins, a few strange statue things, and a weird tablet thing that looks really cool. I'll look at it closer when I get home. Right before I leave, I hand Carter back my shovel and he asks to see what I found before I leave. I show him everything and he lets me keep everything... except for the cool tablet. Bummer.

I step outside and the sun isn't setting yet, but it looks like it's about to. I make my way to the bridge, remembering my encounter with the Harvest Sprite. _They haven't all been found yet, huh? OH! I wonder..._ I begin to go to the passage towards Mineral Town where I heard a strange noise coming from a tree before. Once there, I look up in the suspected tree and find a harvest sprite! It hops down.

"Thank you for finding me! My name's Jackie. I'll go back to the tree to tell everybody that I'm found, but I think I'll stay here, I really like this spot." With that, he poofed. The sun really starts to set now and it is just beautiful. Looking back on my day.. I really didn't do much at all. I should probably go home now and get to bed early so I can do a lot more tomorrow. I pass the farm place, and decide that is the first place that I will go tomorrow. Other than the farm and Carter and Flora's place, it looks like I've introduced myself to everybody on this side of the river. Before entering my house and going to the bed, I go to the... small building that has the baskets. _I really need to name that building... I need to name it something strange so that I can remember it._ I back away from it and stare at it a good while, trying to come up with a name. _It's skinniness makes it look really tall and tower-like._ I smile. _I should call it my Eiffel Tower._ Just thinking about that name makes me laugh. Yep, that name's stuck. So, then I enter my Eiffel Tower and put my dig finds into the basket that I figured out is for shipping. I yawn and stretch and go to my house. Before changing into my pj's I look at the pictures on my dresser and remember how much I miss my parents. While still thinking about them, I go lay down and drift to sleep, dreaming about them. Dreaming about my dad being alive and us all living together in my first house in my hometown.


	3. New Faces

Okay, I am sooooooooo sorry I haven't updated in a long time, but it's summer break now and SHOULD be able to write more! If I can just get around to it. It's getting started that's the hardest part, ya know what I mean? …..it would be a lot of inspiration if I got some more reviews... -hint hint- Teehee~ Anyways... ummm... yeah. :) Keep reading and favoriting and all that good stuff ^_^

As I wake, I start to feel like this is where I'm meant to be – working on a farm and growing up, independent from my mother. I look down at the rucksack resting on the floor. "I should probably plant those seeds, huh?" I sigh and change out of my pj's. Dragging the rucksack out the door, I realize that it will take quite some time to work up my stamina for me to be cut out for all this farm work stuff. I walk out in the middle of the open field and try to figure out where to plant the seeds. I bend over and try to find some dirt that would be good for crops. The ground is very hard and compacted and not suitable for plants of ANY kind (I knew my biology class back in the city would come in handy for something). I scratch my head and look around for some dirt and I see a couple small patches next to my house. I pout. _Is that ALL the space I get for planting? That's no fair! Claire had a whole field!_ Knowing that my griping would not get me anywhere, I sulk over to the small patches and begin to plant the turnip seeds. While planting, I notice that the soil quality is very good and will likely produce some very good veggies. After all the seeds had been adequately buried, I go to the little well thingy and fill up my watering can. I walk back to the fertile land and am very startled by some thudding inside of my watering can. I quickly toss it away from me and the water spills out everywhere. Nothing else happens. I slowly walk towards the can and something crawls out. It's a little person! Err... Harvest...Sprite was it? The little sprite dressed in light blue crawls the rest of the way out and it rubs its head. I, totally confused, let out an "uhhh..."

The little sprite shakes off the water from it's body much like a dog. It tilts its head to one side and slaps it, trying to remove water from it's ears. This amusing scene caused me to chuckle. With the water out of its ears, it now heard my chuckle and jumped and turned my direction. The poor thing starts to hyperventilate.

"It's okay little guy, I'm not going to hurt you."

His little panic ended and he laughed at himself. "I'm sorry! I was so startled because one moment, I'm fast asleep and the next thing I know, I'm in a bucket of water..." He looks as if he just got some revelation shown to him. "Could it be... the Witch Princess? ….again?"

I explained my encounter with her to him, and his horrified expression led me to wonder if there was more to the story than what I was told...

I ask him why he's so disturbed by my encounter with her, and he replies, "No, no, no, no, no, NO! This CANNOT happen! Last time when we were all sent away, there was a young boy named Jack. ...come to think of it, he was probably about your age. Anyways, he was the one who owned your farm, and when we all disappeared, it was his job to bring us all back. Once he brought back the Harvest Goddess, they joined together and fought the Witch Princess and locked her up into a prison in another dimension and sealed it off. Let's see, that was about... 20 years ago." He pauses and beats his tiny little knuckles on his forehead, "Nobody was supposed to be able to access it! HOW did she get out? Oh, this is so frustrating!" He runs around in circles for a little while then finally turns back to me and says, "I had better get back to the tree and let everybody know what's happened... even though I'm sure they know by now.."

He poofed away before I could even tell him that there are only two other sprites rescued thus far. I sit on the ground, trying to process all that has just happened. I chuckle at my thoughts. _When I wanted to work on a farm, I didn't ask for all of this drama. I've been here for, what, 2 days? And things have already gotten complicated, and somehow I feel as if I'm right in the middle of it. Oh well... this __certainly is more entertaining than my boring life back in the city._ I look over at my newly planted turnips and remember that I never got around to watering them. I fill up my watering can again, hoping there will not be any more drama-filled sprites in it. I water my turnips peacefully, trying to clear my head and psyche myself up for meeting a lot of people today. Once watered, I head over to the farm that I got a good look at yesterday. From the looks of it, there are three people living there. I cross the bridge and am lucky to find them all three working in the fields below. One of the three people, a hefty woman with short, curly, red locks of hair, calls me over when they saw me approach them. I obey and she introduces herself as Vesta. A much younger girl introduces herself to me as Cecilia. Cecilia has very dark straight hair. It's either black or a very dark brown; I can't tell. She is very much more soft-spoken than Vesta, who has a loud and crisp voice. There is a boy with them too, but he doesn't seem interested in meeting me. Do I smell bad? I -very smoothly- move my hair in front of my shoulders to act like I'm playing with it in order to smell it. Nope. I don't smell bad. I smell quite good, actually. Vesta uses her voice to make an abrupt call over to the boy; she called him Marlin. Marlin seems... rude. He also has very dark hair, but he has this ONE little curl that comes down his forehead that just annoys the snot out of me. If only I had a pair of scissors... My thoughts are interrupted by his short but sweet introduction, "Hi, I'm Marlin." He has a deep voice, one of those voices that has a pitch to where it is very difficult to hear.

I smile to all three of them and reply, "I'm Jill. I just moved in to the farm."

Cecilia giggles, "Well it's very nice to meet you, Jill! As you can tell, we also run a farm. So, if you ever need help with anything, we're here for you."

Vesta jumps in with her resounding voice, "Yeah! Feel free to buy some crops or trees from us! We have plenty and we're cheap too!"

Marlin just stands away from the group and says nothing, and he has a pouting look on his face. Well aren't we Miss Sunshine?

I have no idea the relationships of these people. Are they all from different families but just come together to work? Because they don't really look alike.. or are Marlin and Cecilia children of Vesta? I dunno, but that's my guess for now. I have a feeling like I'm going to be good friends with Cecilia, so I'll just find out later. After all, I have a lot more people to meet.

"Oh yeah, I'll be sure to come by often and see what you have! Well, I have to go and introduce myself to... everybody else. It's been really nice meeting you!" They seem like nice people. Well... Cecilia and Vesta do anyways. Cecilia is so sweet, and Vesta is nice too it's just that.. her voice kind of hurts my ears a little bit. Marlin on the other hand... I have no comment. I don't want to already not like somebody, but maybe he's just stressed out like that girl I met yesterday... Flora! Yeah, her. Maybe that's what his problem is. I'll give him some time and reserve my judgment until then.

I wave back at the trio as I cross the bridge. Who next? ...let's go over to this little house to the left over here. I approach it and knock softly on the door. I listen for somebody to come to the door, but instead I hear a guitar playing from somewhere. I go to the back of the house and find.. an odd guy sitting at the base of a tree and playing the guitar. The music he is playing is beautiful, but it stops once he sees me.

"Hey, man." is is greeting.

"Hey! ..umm I'm Jill. I'm the one who just bought the farm."

"Ohhh yeaaahh. That's groovy, man." His syllables are all long and drawn out, as if he doesn't have a care in the world. "Name's Gustafa."

"It's nice to meet you, Gustafa." He seems really cool. His long and pointy nose resembles his green hat which has a long and pointy top. I can't really see his eyes very well because they are hidden behind sunglasses. Even if he wasn't wearing them, I doubt I could see them anyways because of the lip of his hat. He has brown hair, a long beard and long sideburns. Back in the city, I can see him being one of those people sitting by the side of the road and playing his guitar for money.

The silence leads him to start playing his guitar again. The sweet melody makes me want to stick around longer, but there are still quite a few people to meet. I stand up, "Again, it was nice meeting you." As I walk away, he gives a slow nod as acknowledgment.

I decide to try the next building next. It's an inn. Maybe there's quite a few more people here. So far, this valley seems really small, but I guess that's to be expected.

I walk inside and am immediately greeted by a cute, chubby little oriental woman, "Welcome to the i- hey! Are you the new girl that bought the farm?"

I smile instantly at her cuteness and reply, "Yes I am; I'm Jill."

At that, she runs up to me and shakes my hand rapidly, "Oh it's a pleasure to meetcha. I'm Ruby. I run this inn here. There's a kitchen in the back; how 'bout I go and make you something to give you a warm welcome? The Valley's not used to seeing new people, so it's a real treat to us! Oh, come on, follow me!"

Without much say in the matter, I follow her back into the kitchen. I take in a deep breath, and it smells soooo good. It smells like freshly baked bread... and... the sweet smell of pineapples and strawberries.

"What would you like to eat, dear? I'll make anything!"

I, not intending to get anything at all, am mesmerized by the bread and fruit smell and ask about it. Her reply is, "Yes I just made some bread a few minutes ago and some fruit cocktail. Would you like some?"

Before I can reply, she whips out some dishes and lays them on a counter in front of me. "Yes I would love some! They smell really good, Ruby."

"Well thanks, dearie," she answers. She's like a mix between a mother and a grandmother. She's got the motherly care of, well, a mother, and the "I'll bake cookies and knit you a sweater" of a grandmother.

At that moment, a husky man walks in and begins talking to Ruby about financial matters. I feel a little uneasy when he tells her that their food supplies seem to be disappearing more than they should be. Once he realizes my presence, he gives a lazy smile and introduces himself. "Hey, I'm Tim. I'm guessing that you have already met my wife, Ruby."

"Yes I have, and she's real nice too." After a pause, I say, "I'm Jill, the new farm owner."

"Oh, yeah. So you're the one who everyone's talking about."

I never thought that I would be this popular.

"Ummm yeah.." is my response as I rub the back of my neck. I'm guessing this talk is a good thing? I can only hope anyways.

He plops down on a stool across the table from me and sighs. As the silence grows, I begin to eat again.

After seeing that I am satisfied with my meal, Ruby leads the two of us out into the main room where I first came in, leaving Tim behind. I should probably be leaving, but I really don't want to leave her quite yet. She just resembles my own mother so much that I can't bring myself to leave. That's it, I'm officially taking her as my unofficial stepmother. "So have you been getting plenty of business?" I ask.

"We do enough to get by. We have two young people staying in the inn. It's more like it that we're renting the rooms to them because they show no signs of leaving anytime soon. One of them is Tim and I's son, actually." she answers with a chuckle. "We also sell some food here, but it seems like we haven't been making as much profit recently. Tim seems to be concerned about that right now. But I'm sure we could do well if we had plenty of farm fresh veggies," she says with some laughter.

"Oh I can help with that!" I stop and realize that that is probably what she was hinting at anyways.

To my relief, a boy walks down the stairs, lightening the somewhat awkward situation that I feel like I'm in.

"Oh there is my son now!" Turning towards him, she says, "Rock! We have a visitor! This is Jill, the new farmer."

He stops about two feet in front of me -a bit out of my comfort zone- and shakes my hand with a bright smile on his face. "Hey, I'm Rock."

"I'm Jill. Nice to meet you." I try to reply with as bright of a smile on my face, but I don't think I succeeded. His eyes are brown and very pretty for a boy. I'm kind of jealous, actually... he reminds me of that.. Gustafa guy. They both seem hippie-ish, but Rock seems quite a bit more talkative.

"Hey, I'm so sorry, but I have to hurry on over to Mineral Town now and help out a man there named Saibarra with his blacksmithing." With that, he leaves.

I turn to Ruby. "Wow, he must be a hard worker."

"No, not really. He wouldn't work to save his life. He probably just said that to impress you. He just goes to Mineral Town to take walks, but I think he is becoming good friends with the blacksmith's grandson, Gray. He constantly comes home with different books, too, so he must visit their library quite often."

"Oh... well then.."

Noticing my loss for words, she nudges my elbow and says, "But he's single." She winks and gives an expression that I wouldn't expect her to make. "You'd better watch out, however, because I have a strong suspicion that he has his eyes on a certain girl here named Lumina. I'm sure you'll meet her if you haven't already."

A bit uncomfortable with this topic, I pretend to look at my watch and say that it's time to go. To my surprise, I have actually stayed here much longer than I had intended. "Yeah, I need to go and meet everybody else." I head towards the door when she stops me and informs me that there is somebody else staying in a room upstairs and suggested that I go and meet her before I leave.

So I go upstairs and knock on random doors until I hear a reply. "What?" is what I hear.

"May I come in?" I ask.

"Who are you?" says the muffled voice.

"Oh, I'm Jill, the one who is taking care of the farm now." I don't hear anything for a few seconds, then I hear a little scuffle then slow footsteps towards the door. The door opens slowly and a girl with short, fiery red hair peeps out through the crack.

"What do you want"

"Well I just... wanted to introduce myself.."

"Oh.. is that all? I'm Nami." She opens the door a little bit more, but not big enough for me to fit through. I take it as she doesn't want me to go into her room, which I can't blame her. I wouldn't let a stranger into my house. Well... not normally anyways.

"It's nice to meet you, Nami."

She nods, and after a brief pause, asks, "Okay are we done?"

"I-I guess so.."

"Okay, bye."

"B-" the door slams shut.

…

Well... she doesn't seem mean, I guess. Just a little... quiet? I don't really know how to describe her. She would get along great with that Marlin kid. I snicker to myself as I walk down the stairs.

I leave the inn and sigh when I see that it's getting dark, yet again. This place is so small; I can't believe that it's taking me this long to meet everyone. My last stop for today is the.. building that plays music. I approach it and realize that it is a bar. Kinda random to have a bar out here if you ask me. I walk in and am greeted by a tall man who reminds me of Takakura (hey I remembered his name!). He has a big moustache and a lot of stubble on his face. His voice is deep and husky, and kinda hard to understand some words.

"Hey, haven't seen your face before. You new?

"Yes, I'm Jill. I just moved into the farm."

"Oh, cool; I'm Griffin." He turns away and yells, "Muffy! Get out here! The farmer is here!"

In a couple of minutes a girl comes out and introduces herself.

"Hi! I'm Muffy!" She tilts her head to the side and closes her eyes as she talks. She seems kinda ditzy and wears too much makeup, I think. But of course, who is a farmer girl to say? I squint to try to tell what her actual skin tone is, but can't make it out. Good thing her eyes are still closed or things could have gotten really awkward really quick. Her voice is the TOTAL opposite of Griffins – high, loud, and it carries. But they seem like good people, nonetheless.

She runs from behind the counter and hooks her arm into mine. "I can tell that we're going to be BEST friends!" Ditzy as she may be, she's still a sweetheart and I appreciate the effort she's putting into trying to be my friend.

Griffin interrupts us and asks me if I want a drink.

"Sorry, but I don't have any gold on me... maybe I'll just take a water?"

"Sure thing." He turns to a fridge and pulls out a water and hands it over. "There ya go."

"Thank you very much," I reply. A yawn just comes out of nowhere and reminds me that I should be getting home. I tell the two goodbye and make my way home. As I stand in front of the dresser and change into my pj's, I look at the two pictures on my dresser. Gotta love the picture frame that the family portrait is in. The frame was made by me when I was about six years old. It's a cheap piece of cardboard with buttons and sequins and feathers and glitter glued on it. But the other picture frame on the other hand is an antique. It has been passed down in my family for five generations, I believe. I pick up the frame, dust it, and hold it up to the light to see it's pure beauty. The blue aquamarines and deeper blue sapphires glisten in the light. Yawning again, I set the picture down and crawl into bed.

Ahhh I finally got this chapter done! =D And again, soo sorry for the long update. What took a while was that I couldn't remember if someone ran the Inn along with Ruby... I asked a question on neoseeker but nobody ever replied... my friend finally told me though, and I vaguely remembered him. So if he doesn't seem quite exactly right in the story, that's why. Of course, I doubt he'll make another appearance :P

KEEP READING AND **REVIEW!** ...please?


	4. The Rest of the Village

Okay I know I always say "Ohhh I'm so sorry it took me so long to update and blah blah blah" but... I really am *sulk* It has been too long since I wrote another chapter, but I really had this one halfway done for like... a year . and I'm JUST NOW getting around to finishing on it. I'll keep going as long as I have inspiration. So.. review please?

I wake to the sound of birds chirping outside. My eyes slowly open, and I – not wanting to – manage to roll myself out of bed. "Ugghhhhh..."

Knowing what I must do, I stoop over and grab the handle of my rucksack and drag it outside before I am even fully awake. Once I step over the threshold, I'm greeted by two dogs. I trudge my way over to the crops and begin to water them before I completely register the fact that two dogs were standing in front of my house. I drop the watering can (without a sprite falling out this time) and squat down to examine them. They have no collars and appear to be homeless. One looks just like Claire's dog! It is a dark brown and has big floppy ears. The other one is a much lighter brown and has pointy ears that stick up. They're both so adorable! I don't know which one to keep and which one to get rid of... I'll just keep them both~

So. I now have two new family members so that I won't be lonely. Now if I talk to myself, my excuse will be that I'm actually talking to them. So they won't get lost before I get collars for them, I lead them into my house and keep them in there. I rummage around my farm for mushrooms and other things that they may eat and I leave it sitting in a bowl in a corner of my single-room house. I, once again, embark out in an attempt to meet the rest of the villagers. Before leaving my farm, I notice a little path that goes off to the side. I stumble my way through and am on a normal looking path that is used frequently. I look to the right and see the bridge that goes over the river to Vesta's farm. Looking to the left, however, is unfamiliar territory. I follow the path up the river and get to an area that has a spring and a huge tree. This is a beautiful place. It is very well shaded by huge looming trees overhead with the occasional spot of bright sun that shines through. The path dead-ends at the tree. I begin to turn around and return back down the path when my eye catches something on the tree. A... little door? OH! This must be where the Harvest Sprites live! Well, I have to say that they sure picked out a great spot. The place smells of fresh grass and wildflowers that has just been coated with rain. I head back to my farm when I pass Rock on the way up.

"Hey, Jill!" he greets me.

"Good morning, Rock" I say to him. "What are you up to?"

"Oh nothin' much, really. Just takin' a walk out here. Care to join me?"

This was quite a tempting offer for me. "I'd love to, but I can't. I've been trying to introduce myself to everybody in the village for the past few days and I haven't finished yet.. and I really need to." His bright face dulled just the tiniest bit. I, picking up on this, reply quickly, "But once I'm completely done, I'll take a walk with you out here. How does that sound?"

He smiles widely again, "Sounds good."

"Okay, well I had better be going. See ya later!" I wave to him as I leave.

"Bye." I eventually hear him say.

I enter my farm again and exit through the normal way after checking on my newly acquired puppies. I pass the Inn and find two houses across the path from the bar. It was a bit dark to notice the walkway last night. It is made of silver-ish light gray bricks and is fairly wide. I enter the first house and find a cute old couple sitting at a little dining table. The little old lady is indeed very little. She is short and a little hunched over which makes her even shorter. She wears an adorable hat that that just looks like a plain old cap but it has a ladybug design on it. Her trousers are also adorable – there are two giant flowers over the knees. I don't know what it is, but this whole valley just sort of strikes me as hippie. The old man looks... nice? I think? He wears a hairnet... which is a little bit weird because it looks like he doesn't even have any hair. I pause and look closer. I take that back. He does have very white hair in the back – below the hairnet which is kinda odd. He also has an odd face shape. His chin is _very_ long and thin and so is his nose. They both point outwards and downwards. By now he is giving me an odd look with one eyebrow raised. The woman is smiling at me with her eyes closed.

The man says in a brisk and gruff manner, "Who are you!"

"Oh, excuse me" I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "I'm Jill, the new farmer.."

The old lady stood up and shook my hand. "Well it's very nice to meet you, Jill. I'm Nina and this is my husband Galen."

Galen stands up and shakes my hand firmly. He gives me a warm smile but it seems like his small beady little eyes are just giving me a _look_... maybe he always looks like that though.

"It's nice to meet you both," I smile at them.

"You know.." Nina starts, "Today is my 80th birthday," she said happily as if she is not ashamed of her age at all. "And at the end of the year it will be our 50th anniversary!"

"Wow, congratulations and happy birthday!" I say, sharing in the excitement.

Galen walks over and puts his arm around Nina, "And I am taking her out to the Sunshine Islands for her birthday."

Nina's face lights up, "Oh my goodness!" She covers her reddening face with her hands. "I've always wanted to go there! Oh I love you so much!" They embrace each other in this tender loving moment. I stand awkwardly on my toes, bite my lower lip, and look around the room.

"Ummm I'll just let you guys get ready for your trip. It was nice meeting you!"

They both look up at me with tears in their eyes and wave to me as I leave.

Well that was really sweet. I really like them. I wonder who lives in this other house. My question is answered as soon as I walk through the door. Inside I see quite an active family. Both active and hectic. On a treadmill I see a man with a receding hairline and oblong head, and lifting dumbbells I see a much smaller boy with band-aids covering his body. Straight in front of me I see a woman with pointy glasses and red hair hurriedly setting the table then running to get some food out of a nearly smoking oven. I feel my blood pressure rise by just standing in this room full of activity. The woman sets the food on the table, notices my presence and welcomes me as she is turned back around fanning the open oven with a dish towel.

"Oh hi! I'm Chris." She pauses to close the oven once it has cooled off. "Haven't seen you before; are you new?"

"Yes I am. I'm Jill – the new farmer." That phrase has almost become a reflex for me now.

"Well it's a pleasure to have you. Things aren't normally this hectic, but-"

"Yeah they are!" I hear the small child's voice cut in.

Chris sighs and eventually agrees with him, "Well... yeah... I guess. This is Hugh, my son. And the guy over there is Wally." She gestures over to the man on the treadmill and he waves. I try not to distract him because I know if I was on the treadmill, I would probably fall off if I tried to multitask.

"Your hair is weird" Hugh says in a nasally voice as he points to my hair.

"Hugh!" His mother calls out to him. "Be polite!"

"But look at it! It's a ponytail but... its like two ponytails but it's still one!"

I smile at him, knowing what he's talking about. The hair in my ponytail does have a tendency to make strange parts.

At this point, Chris tenses up and her cheeks become flushed. "Huuuuuughh!"

"I-it's okay." I butt in quickly. "I used to get that a lot, actually. It doesn't bother me." I look back at the boy, looking relieved at my comment. He was beginning to sink into his seat a little.

Wally takes advantage of this silence to descend from the treadmill and introduce himself to me. "I'm Wally." He has some strange eyes. It's almost like he doesn't have any pupils. Either that or the pupils are white and star-shaped.. My only guess is that he is extremely fatigued. "It's nice to meet you, farmer. Always good to know where your food is comin' from, eh?" With that he gives me an elbow nudge.

"I-I haven't grown anything yet..."

"True, but the valley still has some food leftover from the previous farm owner. That was quite a while ago if I remember correctly."

"He lived here before our family came." Chris adds, "I have relatives who used to live here, and they told me about him and all of his delicious produce that he created. That's originally why we came here. You see, I have a sister named Lanna who lives on the Sunshine Islands. She's serious about her acting career, but as you can guess, it didn't take off too well here. We used to live there and she used to live in this house so... we just kinda swapped. I wonder how she's doing by the way.."

Wondering when she would be done talking, I continue to listen. "We look nothing alike, Lanna and I, but I guess that's the same way with Wally and his sister, Gwen. Total opposites." Never would I have pegged her as a talker, but boy was I wrong.

Hugh cries out, "I want a sister!" Wally and Chris share a horrified expression for a moment before Chris replies with a nervous laugh, "Not right now, Hugh. They're expensive at the moment. Let's wait until the price goes down." I almost could not contain my laughter. They must not have had "the talk" yet. And this is where I look for my cue to leave.

Chris changes the subject, "Hugh, dinner's ready! Don't want it to get too cold. Hurry up and eat." She looks at me and adds, "You're welcome to stay, too, Jill."

Ah, here it is, "No, I really have to get going."

"Well okay then, Jill. Have a good day!" Chris says as she waves goodbye.

Wally and Hugh say goodbye to me at the same time. Before I even leave the house I hear Chris starting to yell at Hugh, "Hugh! Get over here and eat before-" I close the door quickly as I take in some fresh air. As I walk out of the house, I am shocked to see a creature that resembles Frankenstein. I stop dead in my tracks just watching to see what it would do, which hopefully did not involve myself becoming a meal. It spoke.

"Hey." It has a deep voice.

"Ummm... hi?"

"Haven't seen you before. I'm the doctor of the valley, Dr. Hardy."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you, Dr. Hardy." I smile, realizing that he is no threat. "I'm Jill, the new farmer."

He chuckles, "Well you may need to come to me quite often, then. Farming is a pretty taxing job on your body. Be sure and stay healthy."

"I will." I smile brightly.

"Hate to be rude, but I'm afraid that I have to be going. I need to make it to Mineral Town before my friend leaves. His name is Alex and he's a doctor as well – the doctor of Flower Bud Village.

He looks just like Trent,. No wonder they're brothers." He smiles. "But I really do need to go so.. I'll see you around sometime."

I laugh, "Okay, I'll see you later! Bye!" He's a nice man. But I didn't know Mineral Town's doctor had a brother. Or a first name. I keep walking and think I see something in the distance. I look between the inn and the bar and see a lab looking building. Next to it lie two... electrical looking... tower things. I have no idea what they are but there is some kind of electrical current moving through them. I sigh and go towards the house, a bit worried of what kind of person lives there. I walk in and am immediately greeted by a weird looking man. He has a pointy face, small glasses and shaggy black hair. His hair looks like he either just got out of bed or he had just gotten electrocuted. ...Judging by his appearance I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did get electrocuted. He also looks like he has a permanent angry face.

"Umm... hello.." I say nervously.

"Hi!" He answers. His voice takes me by surprise. He sounds like... well... a crazy mad scientist. That's the best way to describe him. "I have a mermaid in my basement."

"Uhhhh okay..." That was random.

"I know that sounded a bit random it's just that... well... not many people talk to me and I don't really know how to spark a conversation or anything. So.. I figured she would be a good conversational topic." He twirls his thumbs as he looks down.

It amuses me how socially awkward he is. "Well then, should we go down and talk to her?"

"Y-yeah" He replies as he pushes up his glasses. He motioned for me to follow him down a ladder and low and behold... there is a mermaid. In his basement. ..in a bathtub.

"So uhh..." Not finding anything else to say, I ask, "_Why?_"

"Well you see... I found her washed up on the beach. I couldn't just _leave_ her there so.. I brought her here. Her name is Leia." She has short green hair with two large pink shells in her hair as if they are hair pieces.

"I-it's nice to meet you, Leia," I smile at her.

She giggles and replies, "It's nice to meet you too, Jill!"

"Wait... how do you know my name?" I ask her curiously.

"Daryl told me," She replies as she points to the scientist.

I turn towards him, "And how did _you_ know my name?"

"Well... I kinda walk around your farm every day and I just hear about you through the villagers."

"You WHAT!" I ask him, sounding a bit more frightened than I actually am.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just... am fascinated about the soil there. And why there used to be buildings there 20 years ago and then they suddenly disappeared. I don't remember how they vanished but they just... did."

I laugh nervously and look around the room at all of the other science-y things. "I should probably go now, but it was nice meeting you two!" I leave the odd pair as I head down the hill and towards a metal trailer. As I approach it, a large man walks out. He has incredibly dark skin and a bright yellow mohawk. He wears a red bandana with white polka dots around his neck. His head is very large but his face is actually quite small. He also has white war paint on his face.

"Hey. Who are you?" He asks.

"I'm Jill... the one who moved into the farm."

"Oh" He replies.

Silence.

"...it was nice to meet you, uhh.." I just realized he never told me his name.

"I'm Cody" He says. "It was nice to meet you too." He nods as he walks off. It's getting late in the afternoon but it seems that I'm near the edge of the valley so I'll keep going. I come to a water tower looking thing with a rope hanging down. At that moment two balding old men slide down the rope. They walk over and stare up at me – they're incredibly short and they look exactly. alike. Well... their looks anyways. They have on different overalls. One has on blue overalls with a smiley face on them and the other has on green overalls with a tulip on them. Oh... and the one with the tulip also has a squiggly hair on the top of his head and the other one doesn't.

"Hey" One says.

"Who are you?" The other one asks.

"I'm Jill, the new farmer." I reply.

The one with the squiggly hair says "I'm Patrick"

The other one says, "And I'm Kassey."

At the same time, they both say "And we're twins."

"Well I can certainly see that," I say as I nervously rub the back of my neck.

"We make fireworks," Patrick says.

"And we were just on our way to the beach to do so."

"Oh well it was nice meeting both of you!" I smile nicely. They nod as they walked towards the beach which I have yet to go to, but I can see it from here. I turn around and look up the hill and see a giant villa. I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that this is the last place to introduce myself to. I walk past the fountain and through the wide double doors and am instantly welcomed by beautiful piano music. And two cats. One is an orange and white tabby and the other is a black cat with white paws. I look to the right – where the music is coming from – and see a girl with long, light brown hair playing it. Gathered around the piano are two old people. There is a short old lady with _huge_ white hair, little golden glasses, and a pink umbrella that she seems to be using as a walking cane. There is also an old man, but he doesn't seem to be AS old as the woman, but he also has white hair. He seems more timid and soft spoken. The old lady notices me and says, "Oh! Hello there!"

"Hi!" I smile warmly.

"You must be the new farmer," she says with a somewhat squeaky voice that is still very old lady-like.

I chuckle. "Yes I am."

"Sebastian, dear, would you mind going to get our guest some tea?" The old lady guestured to the old man.

With a bow he leaves the room. The young girl at the piano stops playing and turns to greet me. "I'm Lumina, and if you couldn't tell, I really love to play the piano."

"And you're really good at it!" I say quite impulsively.

"Oh ho ho," the old lady chimes in, "I'm so proud of her, too! She's my wonderfully talented granddaughter!" She goes over and pinches Lumina's cheeks.

Lumina laughs, "This is my grandma Romana." We are interrupted by Sebastian coming back in with three cups of hot tea. He walks over to me first with the tray. I am careful to pick up one of the cups with both hands due to my klutzy tendencies. I take a sip as he is distributing the remaining cups. This tea is surprisingly good.

Lumina looks over at me, "So do you have time to hang over here for a while?"

I look out the window and see that there is still a little bit of daylight left. I actually have no one else to introduce myself to so... might as well~ "Sure! ..I don't really have anything else to do so why not?"

With my reply, Lumina let out a giggle. "Great! Then I'll show you around the house!"

After being given a tour, we end up in her room in the middle of the top floor. Her room is so neat with many cool things in it. I pick up some interesting marbles and question Lumina about them.

"Oh! I love those marbles! My friend Maya actually gave those to me when she came to visit! They are actually FROM Waffle Town! And they're made from an ore that is only found deep down within their caves! How cool is that!"

"Whoa.. that actually is really cool! I play with an extra pretty sparkly blue one.

I yawn and realize that we have totally lost track of time. It is now dark outside and decide to leave. I tell Lumina and everybody else goodby as I make my exit. I'm going down the hill towards my home and I am lost in thought. When I reach the bottom of the hill, I realize that I am still holding Lumina's special blue marble.

"Crud!" ...I make my way BACK up the hill to return it to her. I only make it to the fountain when I am surprised to see someone come out from the villa that I did not recognize. This boy is actually incredibly handsome. I cannot take my eyes off of him and his leopard jacket. His long silver hair is very distracting. As he approaches, his eyes become mesmerizing. He stops when he gets to me.

"Hehe. Hello, beautiful. Walking alone at night?" He says smoothly.

My mouth drops open and my head tilts to the side.

"I'm quite the ladies' man, and a prince of the stars."

We are interrupted by Lumina who walks outside, looking annoyed. She says, "Hey! Aren't you that famous thief who warns his victims ahead of time?"

The mysterious thief turns to her and casually says, "Sorry, but I'm a bit pressed for time. I'm about to jet out."He turns around and walks off a bit. He shortly stops and turns back around towards us. "Call me Phantom Skye. I have a feeling we'll meet agiain. It's in the stars."

Lumina runs over and stands by me. "Wait right there!" She shouted out to this Skye.

He turns to face her. "Hold up, beautiful. Don't let such raw anger steal away your beauty."

She blushes and covers up her cheeks with her hands, "What a smooth talker... Phantom Skye..." She ran after him and they disappear out of sight. It's not long until I saw Lumina slowly come back up the hill. She's slightly out of breath and fanning herself, "Phantom Skye! He...he got away from me!"

"Well! Did... did he take anything?" I ask.

"Actually... I caught him right when he came in so he shouldn't have had time to take anything."

"OH!" I just remembered my reason for coming back, "Here." I placed the marble in her hand. "I accidentally took this with me. I must have forgotten that I had it. Well, I'm getting really tired so I'm going to go home and go to bed."

We both wave each other goodbye and head in separate directions. As I walk home I become lost in thought about Skye. He is a... very gorgeous person and very interesting. I really hope I do get to see him again sometime. And maybe then I'll really get to talk to him and find out more about him. Even though the walk home is quite short, I actually don't remember most of it. I just remember thinking about Skye, but I don't remember getting home, or getting myself into bed. I just find myself dreaming about the mysterious thief.

SOOOOOOOO took me long enough to finish. If you like then REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! ..even if you don't like then still review and tell me why you dont like it XD Soo uhh... I FINALLY GOT JILL TO MEET EVERYONE. It only took me 4 chapters to do so . And sorry I had to cram a lot of stuff into this one chapter I just got tired of introducing people lol.


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